Top 10 unmade DC films
DC comics have a vast stable of characters to offer moviedom...and perhaps it's even time for the Boy Wonder to go it alone...?
Now that Warner has seized the reins of DC in earnest, one of its primary concerns is going to be turning the company’s massive library of characters into viable movies. Here are ten movies DC and Warner haven’t quite managed to get into cinemas yet – which, let’s face it, means basically every character that doesn’t start with “Super”, “Bat” or, er, “Jonah”.
10. Wonder Woman

How? A Wonder Woman film isn’t an easy prospect. Although the character is a cultural icon, she suffers from a poorly defined rogues gallery and some very outdated designs, concepts and imagery associated with the character. A ground-up reinvention would not be an entirely terrible idea, although the majority of the public who are aware of Wonder Woman will be expecting the classic look. Perhaps a film along the lines of the Xena TV series would be the best way forward, emphasising the warrior and mythological elements of the character, rather than the straight superhero tropes.
9. Lobo

How? Lobo’s story doesn’t spring readily to mind. I’m inclined to say that he should be given a human sidekick as an audience entry point and let loose, performing some impossible task so that we can watch him cut a swath of destruction through the universe. Lobo doesn’t need a character arc – treat him as a force of nature, and something watchable will emerge.
8. Green Lantern

How? The biggest problem here is choosing exactly which Green Lantern to make the film about. Personally, I’d go with Kyle Rayner, simply because the character is far more modern and relatable than a middle-aged test pilot – and there are enough problems with the concept being a little outdated and corny as it is, without grafting an obviously 50s concept onto it. In any case, the story should see Kyle becoming the Green Lantern (though using Hal’s origin) and Sinestro coming to Earth to try and wrest the ring from the newbie Lantern before the Corps can get to him. Keep the origin story confined to Earth – all the space-faring stuff can wait until the sequel.
7. The Flash

How? Again, the most difficult part would be choosing which Flash to use. Barry Allen makes the most sense, purely because he’s the most iconic incarnation, but Wally West is also a serious contender (although a film where the hero is named “Wally” seems an unlikely prospect.) Unfortunately, the Flash’s power of super-speed isn’t particularly cinematic, and most people will see him as a poor version of Superman. Plot be damned, the key to making Flash work on film is to find as many inventive uses for his abilities as possible. If everything’s a simple race, things will get tedious fast.
6. JLA

How? All through this article I’ve suggested that individual JLA members should have their own film first, but maybe, just maybe, the JLA film could work in the opposite direction, introducing the DCU’s secondary characters. People would flock to a JLA film just to see Superman and Batman rubbing shoulders, so the opportunity to convince them that the other members are their peers and equals would go a long way to making them viable characters. Finding a threat big enough to be the antagonist in a JLA movie would be ridiculously difficult, though – an adapted version of Crisis, perhaps?
5. Green Arrow & Black Canary

How? Here’s the pitch: Mr. & Mrs. Smith, with superheroes. And some actually good set pieces. Or look at it this way – you know the last two minutes of True Lies? Imagine a whole film’s worth of that. The husband-and-wife setup has masses of potential for heartfelt-romance, quick-witted humour and explosive conflict – and that’s before they’ve even put on the costumes (badum-tish!). The only film that’s tried something along these lines so far was the insultingly sexist rom-com My Super-Ex, so the goal’s still wide open for a good superhero relationship movie.
4. Robin

How?The main problem with this idea is that Christian Bale has already gone on record as saying that he won’t appear in any Batman film that includes Robin – so why not just the character in his own film? As with Batman, the only way he’s going to make it back on screen is with a portrayal vastly removed from the campy 60s version, so why not go the whole hog and make a film about the Tim Drake Robin instead? Throw in Dick Grayson as Nightwing, the original Robin, as a mentor figure in Batman’s stead, and the setup begins to reveal itself, helping establish Robin as a character without necessarily requiring a Batman. At least until the post-credits cameo…
3. Plastic Man

How? Assuming you could get the budget, the story’s a simple one, utilising a tried (and tired) formula – but for a character like Plastic Man, it’d be the only way to bring audiences in. An average Joe acquires the ability to control every molecule in his body, uses those powers to become a wacky superhero, with lots of wacky CGI and wacky times where he gets his leg caught in automatic doors and stuff. At the end, he learns there are some problems that you can’t fix purely by being a crazy stretchy man, and he grows a little as a person. Which is illustrated literally, with his stretchy plastic powers as some indie rock plays us into the credits. Admit it. You already feel like you’ve seen this movie just from my description of it, so someone might as well go ahead and make it.
2. The Authority

How? Go for broke. Perhaps literally. Loosely adapt Ellis’ first 12-issue arc and end the film with the Authority fighting “God”, the being that created the solar system. The more graphic and ridiculous, the better. Show all those people who accuse superheroes of being an adolescent power fantasy exactly what they’d look like if that’s what they really were.
1. Sandman

How? I don’t feel worthy of this task, but, since I’m hypothetically being forced into it, the only answer I can come up with is…animation. Whether CGI or stop-motion or traditional line-art (or perhaps a mix of all three) a Sandman animated movie seems like an appropriate way to bring the character to the big screen. Perhaps it needs to be presented in the manner of many other Sandman spin-offs, where the narrative follows an individual as they encounter the Endless, rather than Dream himself, but it’s certain that anyone taking on this job will have their work severely cut out for them. Sandman, after all, is a story about the power of stories – so put one foot wrong, and you’ll instantly look like a complete idiot.